


Forbidden Love

by Tarlan



Category: Adventure Inc.
Genre: Community: smallfandomfest, Community: trope_bingo, Episode Tag, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-28 07:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7631281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With Stefan lying in his arms after being struck by the strange green lightning, Judson has his own epiphany.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forbidden Love

**Author's Note:**

> Written for:  
> \- **smallfandomfest** FEST19  
>  \- **trope_bingo 7** prompt: against all odds

Stefan was a heavy weight in his arms but Judson held onto him, chest tightening when he felt Stefan go limp, fearing the worse. He reached out and pressed two fingers against Stefan's throat, eyes closing in relief when he felt the flutter of a pulse. Not strong admittedly, but slow and steady. He brushed a hand through Stefan's hair. They were friends once, and partners, until Stefan sold him his half share of their business. Judson was still trying to figure out where they went wrong. 

For the longest time he thought it was Stefan's envy and resentment that had driven them apart, because Judson had a gift for finding things. He couldn't explain it. It was just an innate part of him, an instinct or a sixth sense, but it meant he often struck lucky when he set his mind to a particular treasure hunt. Book learning and studying only seemed to get them so far and, like Gabe, Stefan had excelled in that area, but once all the clues were on the table, Judson had the uncanny ability to pull it all together and figure out the rest. He had never resented Stefan for his abilities, for the way the man practically turned into a dolphin underwater, making Judson feel so cumbersome in contrast. He had always let Stefan run the dives for that reason, but it occurred to him at this very moment that the conflict between them had only started after a particular dive when Judson went swimming off alone, lured by his gut feeling towards the scattering of debris on the ocean floor to the south of the wreck rather than towards the main bulk, and was attacked by a shark.

The tiger shark had come up from behind, biting into his oxygen tank, and Judson had been forced to use his knife to cut himself free of the harness and make a swim for the surface, but not before he scooped up a trinket box that was lying there as if waiting all those centuries just for him. Stefan was livid when Judson made light of the close encounter, holding up the trinket box in triumph. Yes, he could have died but he hadn't, and when he opened the trinket box it contained an exquisite diamond and sapphire necklace made for the wife of an English lord; an heirloom that most historians had believed was lost for all time. The money made from the recovery of the necklace had bought the _Vast Explorer_ but nothing had been the same between them after that incident. The arguments, all the resentment, it seemed to bubble up from that moment onward, and as he held onto Stefan's unconscious body, all the broken puzzle pieces for why began to coalesce and fall into place.

He was an idiot, caught up in the adrenaline surge of treasure hunting and missing something right before his eyes. He thought the dampening of his enthusiasm over the past years was all to do with getting older and wiser but now he could see how it was the excitement of working with Stefan - of being with Stefan - that had inspired him. His eyes had always been on the next horizon, on the next hunt, and in his search for the next galleon filled with Spanish gold, he had missed the treasure standing by his side through all those years.

With sudden clarity he realized Stefan had been in love with him, and Judson had been too caught up in the thrill of treasure seeking to realize it was the fear of losing him rather than resentment that had tore them apart. A love unspoken, perhaps even a forbidden love back then, almost ten years earlier.

Judson looked across the Mayan temple known in legend as the City of the Sun, pondering on the supernatural events surrounding its rediscovery after so many centuries. It had been built to celebrate the marriage between the daughter of a High Priest and a prince from a neighboring kingdom, but when she refused because she was already in love with another boy, her father sacrificed her on the wedding altar, and it became her tomb; a tomb for forbidden love. The spirits of those two young lovers had been reunited finally, but Judson was not one to believe in coincidence. Strange forces had guided him to this temple too, reuniting him with Stefan after years filled with regrets and unanswered questions. Yet it had still taken Stefan almost dying in his arms for Judson to realize he loved him in return, that he had always loved Stefan.

It explained why he had never settled with anyone else, and why no one had completely replaced Stefan in his eyes, not even Mac for all her amazing skills both in and out of the water. 

The green mist had almost dissipated now and, reluctantly, Judson allowed an army medic to take Stefan from him. His muscles felt stiff from being seated on the uncomfortable ground while he held onto Stefan and he stretched before walking over to join his team and the Governor.

Governor Morton handed him the jade artifact. "As promised by the Minister, it is yours... and thank you again, for my daughter."

They both looked over to where Ynez and the boy she loved were still in each others arms; the Governor's daughter and a young man from a small village. Forbidden love in her father's eyes until they were opened for him in this City of the Sun, just as his own eyes were opened. For the first time in years Judson felt renewed purpose for a different kind of treasure hunt. He had no idea what that strange green electrical charge had done to Stefan but he was alive, and as long as he stayed that way Judson had a chance to make up for the errors of the past. He had a challenge ahead of him and to many it would seem the odds were not in his favor. However, the reward for success, for winning back Stefan's heart, was beyond measure, plus Judson figured he had the spirits of two forbidden lovers looking out for him, and that had to tip the balance favorably for him and Stefan.

Smiling brightly he threw the jade artifact into the air and deftly caught it. 

END  
 


End file.
